


Sweet Disposition

by PanicFOB



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 19:08:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20626079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanicFOB/pseuds/PanicFOB
Summary: You're meeting with Steve for him to return your things after a breakup, but is it really too late to try and make things work? Inspired by the lyrics of All Too Well by Taylor Swift.





	Sweet Disposition

Y/N: The regular coffee shop at 11?

Steve: I’ll be there.

You arrived a little early, distressfully picking at a loose thread on your seater as you sat in the car and watched for him to show up. If the time you had known him told you anything about this man, it was that he would arrive exactly two minutes before the scheduled time. Sure enough, you spotted his motorcycle pulling in to the parking lot. He hopped off and pulled a cardboard box out of his saddlebag. You climbed out of your car and began walking toward the café, awkwardly coming to the door at the same time as Steve.

“Y/N,” he nodded at you and held the door open for you to enter first. You gazed at the box tucked under his right arm.

Steve found a corner table, and you ordered some coffees for the two of you. When you finally took your seat across from him, you noticed the frown lines on his face and the deep furrow of his eyebrows.

It actually relieved you to see that he was just as unhappy about this as you were. He slid the box across the table, and you slowly opened it, scanning the contents carefully. Each of your belongings that had migrated to Steve’s place over the course of your relationship were now neatly packed into this little box. Over a year of dating, and all you had to show for it comfortably fit within a cubic foot. It was all here, except for one thing.

“Where’s my scarf?” you asked the man with your eyebrows raised.

Steve looked like he had hoped you wouldn’t notice. He nervously scratched the back of his neck. “I, uh… it must have gotten lost. I couldn’t find it.”

He’d always been bad at lying. “Tell the truth, Steve. What’d you do with my scarf?”

His face was really red by this point. “I kept it on purpose, okay? It always reminds me of that day in your car, and I couldn’t bear to part with it.”

You easily remembered the day he was referring to. You’d taken an autumn weekend trip through the mountains, driving your car because you would have frozen to death on the back of Steve’s bike. The wind was going in strong gusts, and each one sent a flutter of orange and red leaves across the windshield. It was October confetti, and you remembered fawning over how beautiful it was to Steve a million times. You had stopped the car at multiple points just to step out and get some pictures of you and Steve with the autumn leaves swirling like a tornado around you.

When you had gotten back in the car, a Taylor Swift song had been playing on the radio, and to your great amazement, Steve had cranked the volume up and belted out every word perfectly. You surreptitiously tried to video the performance with your phone, but he had caught you and swiped it out of your hand. You laughed for what felt like hours, your belly hurting from the joy. That was the last time you had worn your favorite scarf; it had ended up at Steve’s place after that, and apparently, he had stored it away as a keepsake.

“Right… that day in my car, the road trip in the mountains, I remember it all too well.”

You both awkwardly took drinks of your coffees and looked away from each other. In order to have something to do with your nervous hands, you began sifting through the contents of the box that Steve hadn’t hoarded for himself. You quirked your eyebrows in confusion at a photograph that didn’t belong to you.

“Why’s this in here?” you wondered as you held it up to demonstrate what you were referring to.

“Oh… well, that was always your favorite picture of me, and I thought, since I’m keeping the scarf, you might want to keep something of mine too.”

This little bit of thoughtfulness and vulnerability that Steve was showing brought tears to the edges of your eyelids.

You inconspicuously tried to wipe them away with the back of your hand, but Steve noticed. He’d always been wonderful at instantly spotting when you were upset. The problem had been in him knowing why you were upset. You asked him, “Do you remember the day that I first saw this photograph?”

His lips curved into a nostalgic smile. “Lunch at Sam’s ma’s place, right? She had a whole album of photos she’d taken since Sam and I had become friends.”

“Yup, and almost every single one of them had been taken without the two of you knowing,” you giggled.

“It was like she was trying to catch us in our absolute worst moments.”

“And I’ll never stop thanking her for that,” you admitted with a smirk. The photo in question had taken place when Sam’s six-year-old nephew had found a snake out in the yard and had carried into the house like it was his new pet. Both Sam and Steve had jumped out of their chairs squealing like little girls, at least according to Sam’s ma, you hadn’t actually been there. She always had her camera on hand and had captured the moment perfectly. You loved it so much because it was the only time you had ever seen the eternally courageous Captain America truly terrified of something.

“I keep trying to forget all the good times,” Steve confessed, “but then I end up only forgetting why we’re even doing this.”

“It’s kind of hazy for me too. I just remember that night in the kitchen when we were dancing in front of the refrigerator… and then you somehow brought up Sharon.”

“And then you suddenly got really mad…”

“And you accused me of being jealous for no reason.”

“And then you brought up how I always get just as jealous over your coworker, David.”

“And then we shouted at each other for hours and hours.”

“Fuck, that night was exhausting.”

“I still can’t recall how we got from there to here, though.”

“I think… once we tired ourselves out… we kind of collectively decided that this was the reasonable next step after a fight like that.”

“We didn’t try any other options first,” you remembered with perfect clarity now.

“We gave up,” Steve concurred.

You reached your hand across the table, a sort of test to see if Steve would take it in his.

When he did, and his thumb caressed that freckle on the back of your hand lovingly, a new determination ignited in your chest. Steve’s sweet disposition and his tendency to comfort you even when you were at odds would always be the reason you couldn’t severe your life from his. How could you give up on this incredible connection, this amazing man, without trying everything you could to make it work?

“Can you still feel the magic here, Steve?”

He raised your hand to his lips and kissed your knuckles. “All too well.”

“We should try harder.”

“We should.”


End file.
